Postgame Quotes: RSL 2, Revolution 1

New England Revolution head coach Jay Heaps
It’s a disappointing result. It’s a tough one to take. You fight, but we gave away too much at the end there. Good team penalized us.

Yeah I was a little disappointed (on our play after the first goal). Disappointed we didn’t go for more. I thought we had one or two more chances after that we were better. Quite frankly, I was disappointed. We have a lot of games coming up. You want your substitutes going in and bring the level up. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t get control of the ball. It wasn’t good enough in the end.

Yeah I do (think the game was winnable), I think it was there. I think we needed to get the second goal. Quite frankly, one goal should have seen it through. Two rebounds and goal; just not clinical enough. We had our chances in the first half. In the first half we had more opportunities, a lot of corner kicks, a lot of opportunities in their half. The middle of the first half, I thought they started to play well. They’re a good team. You’ve got to credit a good team. They’re a veteran team. They controlled the ball well. There are going to be spells where they are going to have 10 or 15 passes in a row. As long as we were defending well. They didn’t break us down until the second half when we gave them a little too much. They punished us.

Lee Nguyen is our penalty kick taker. We have contests and things like that and the players work on it. So in terms of that, Saer (Sene) was taker last year. He is coming back to form and he has taken a few, obviously, in training. That’s a bad one. Not a bad penalty kick, it’s a bad spot to be in the 90th minute. It would have been good to have Lee (Nguyen) in that spot.

I thought our game plan was really good to start the game. Unfortunately after we scored, like someone mentioned, we dropped off too much, gave away too much space in the midfield. You score a goal, you make subs to help your team. Unfortunately it didn’t bring our level up it brought it down. It’s not those guys, when you bring in subs you want a little bit more energy, a little bit more. It was one of those games where it was tough to find rhythm when you came into the game late. I think Saer (Sene) and Juan (Toja) were put in there; we want them to give us an uptick. Unfortunately, they never got there real opportunity.

The decision to take Lee (Nguyen) out was because he had a yellow card. He was flirting with getting another one with a couple fouls and we were up 1-0. So you want to get someone who works hard and we thought that (brining in Juan Toja) was the right decision at the time. Then he gets a yellow and we have another guy with a yellow.

New England Revolution goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth
They started getting more possession of the ball more quickly and took advantage of their chances when they had them.

I would have to go back and look at it. I did not get a great look at it. It was definitely screened. I was just trying to make an initial reaction save, but it was already by me by the time I got up.

I think we possess the ball well at times and then give it away too easily at times. That starts with me at the back sometimes playing long too often. I just think that once we score a goal we cannot take our foot off the pedal. We have to try to put teams away – especially at home.

I think we had a couple chances off some set pieces, but [Real Salt Lake] had a couple chances in the second half and took advantage of them.

I knew toward the end of the game there was going to come a time where they were going to get a couple more chances. I just kept trying to keep myself in the game and stay connected.

We have to try to take the positives from this, even though it is hard to do right now. We have a must-win game at home on Saturday to keep pace in the rest of the conference.

I do not think there was specifically one point. We scored a goal and had a couple chances off set pieces. [Real Salt Lake] had a couple chances. I do not think there was one specific moment where the momentum changed. We even had a chance to tie it up at the end with the penalty. I just think they more so took advantage of their chances and, unfortunately, we did not.

New England Revolution midfielder Ryan Guy
This game was always going to be, for us, about a counter attack. Salt Lake is so good on the ball and so technical through the middle that we knew the chances that we were going to get were going to come from getting the ball wide and getting the ball in the box. That’s precisely what happened and Kelyn (Rowe) put a great ball in. I made the late run at the top of the box, he saw it and it was nice to be able to put one away.

I think unfortunately sometimes games take a series of unfortunate events and I think that’s what happened. I think they say the ball bobbled the wrong way and I think their first goal seemed something like that. When that happened, I thought we stepped it up but when you tend to step it up trying to win the game you leave yourself susceptible. And then on a corner kick, which we’ve been strong on all year, another great save by Bobby (Shuttleworth). And I felt the guy was in the right place at the right time got a lucky foot on it. And unfortunately that ruined our night.

It’s always a heart breaker. I mean a penalty’s a penalty. All the pressure is definitely on the taker. We all feel for Saer (Sene). It’s a difficult position. He stepped up, he was confident about it. I think give him another nine of those he’d put them all away. Soccer’s like that sometimes and you got to take it on the chin and we don’t have to wait long to turn this one around.

It looked like there was. It looked like there was. I think it was definitely going to come down to Jerry (Bengtson) and Saer (Sene). When you miss one, again, it’s always going to be like, uh the other guy should’ve taken it. But, if he put it away, there would’ve been no problems. So, it’s a tough loss for us but I don’t think in any way shape or form this is going to hinder us in continuing on to continue to try and get points. I think today we showed some good stuff. Were finally getting some goals and we got to keep that going.

It’s difficult because at the same time maybe we were dropping back but I think we did feel a strong grasp on the game. We had the goal. I think we saw their reaction. It wasn’t as strong as we may have thought it would’ve been. I think we were feeling confident, that’s why we were dropping off a little bit more. We were trying to play a little bit more possession style which we had been very much more direct throughout the rest of the game. They got in a good cross for the first goal, the ball bobbled around a little bit and we just weren’t able to clear it. I don’t think there was any mutual dropping off on purpose but certainly go back and look at the film and see what we take from it.

With the formation that we’re playing it’s very important for us to continue to press, press, press because we want to possess the ball in the final third. A team like Salt Lake is going to possess the ball in the middle third and when we get it we want to get forward very quickly and possess up there. I thought we did well. The chances we’re getting might be a little few and far between but the ones we get are very good chances. I think fortunately, put one away tonight but I think if we continue to just put those good chances away we’re going to be hard to beat.

The chemistry that we’re building now with the team, it’s I think the first maybe, the second time we’ve played with the same lineup two games in a row and we’re really starting to feel each other. The advantages of this lineup is we have a lot of speed and we’ve got size in the back but everyone’s a fighter and that’s really important for us to really fight for these games because I think from the coach down, that’s really the heart and soul of the way we play. Gloves up fighting match.

The coach said something about it after the game and I realized we do have a game two days later. I think most of the guys are like that it’s the way the season goes, we have to focus so hard just on the game at hand. We don’t have enough brain space to get the next game in mind. But it certainly is at the forefront of our minds now and that’s what we’re going to focus on.

Like you said there will probably be some changes. There are going to be some tired legs. I don’t know if there were any injuries, we might’ve been lucky tonight but, more than anything it’s another chance for us to get three points which we desperately need now.

Real Salt Lake head coach Jason Kreis
I felt like we could get the ball fairly easy into their half. We lacked a little bit of sharpness in the offensive third in the first half. In the second half, when they scored the goal, I felt like they dropped really, really deep and put all their numbers behind the ball. And then it’s going to be difficult to find yourself with some time and space in front of the goal. Credit to our guys that they kept at it and I think this could be a big emotional win for us.

I feel like Luis Gil is somebody who has been nursing an ankle injury for us for awhile and we keep going to him and pushing him, maybe a little bit too hard. I felt like he really was out of gas there in the second half. So, Sebastian (Velasquez) comes in and I think credit to him, he did a great job. He was dangerous and works extremely hard on the defensive side of the ball. (Olmes) Garcia comes in for (Joao) Plata because again, (Joao) Plata played Saturday night. (He) Played really, really well. But, he’s a guy I think struggles a little bit for 90 minutes of fitness. So, we've got to work on that aspect of it and get him off when we need to. Garcia came in and again, big, big contribution from him to score the goal. Then (Kenny) Mansally was a little bit of a defensive minded sub in order to shift the shape and we knew he would be big time up for this game.

Nick (Rimando) is probably playing the best that I've ever seen him play. Says a lot for his age and where he's at in his career. But, he's looking incredibly confident right now and incredibly positive and he's been a huge contributor to every result we've had.

I think we are all confused because it appears that it was the wrong person that he yellow carded. I'm hopeful that the referees sort it out now, before we even leave the building. But, if they don't, I hope the league sorts it out before Saturday because I think Carlos (Salcedo) is in with a shout to start again.

I think that with young players, the typical thing, or the cliche, is that they are going to be inconsistent. They are going to be able to give you a really strong performance and then oftentimes the next one won't be so good. It's very difficult for those young players to withstand an entire season because when they are coming off college seasons or youth seasons, they are much, much shorter than what we have to endure. It's just something the coaching staff has to be mindful of and keep them in check and do everything we can to continue to develop them through the thick and the thin.

No, in fact I think there are more players in our back four that need to be as physical as (Carlos Salcedo) was tonight. We need more statements made from our players. We need more physicality from our centerbacks and our outside backs because I feel there's too many times tonight that they had opportunities to get into a 50/50 and make a hard challenge and they didn't take them.

Real Salt Lake forward Devon Sandoval
I think Ned (Grabavoy) played in the cross, it was a great ball, and I just tried to keep it down and get it away from the goalie and almost squeaked it in but the keeper made a pretty good save. But that was a little frustrating not to see that one go in.

(Olmes) Garcia came on he’s such a dynamic player, and whenever he is on the field, you never know what is going to happen. He gives the defense definitely a hard time and him coming on definitely helped.

Sebastian (Velasquez) made a big shot and I was right there waiting for the keeper to drop it and pretty much dropped it right at my feet and I just had to hit it in. There was someone on my back but I was closer to the goal then he was. I don’t think he was anticipating the keeper to drop the ball.

Their center back’s were pretty big and strong. It was definitely a battle the whole game.”

I just think (Olmes) Garcia coming on helped us a lot. He got that goal too and then (Nick) Rimando came up huge at the end of the game with the save. So, I’m really happy we got a win and that’s two now and hopefully we get another result against Montreal.

We play together everyday, so I don’t think it was too big of a deal. Everybody on our team is extremely good so, everybody stepped up.

Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando
The one thing that is going through my mind is how much Jason (Kreis) has been stressing about getting two victories in a row and how we almost slipped it away with a penalty kick at the end of the game. I am trying to help my team out as much as I can and lucky for me (Saer) Sene helped me I think on the save on that one. But you know a save is a save and we’ll take the three points.

(He telegraphed it) a little bit, yea. We had Ned Grabavoy was in his ear a little bit, kind of telegraphed it a little bit.

I almost felt like I over-dove. It hit my legs and I thought for sure it was going to go right back to him, but luckily Kyle (Beckerman) did a great job in covering me and getting the ball out for a corner.

That is exactly what I do, I let the other guys and the captain deal with all that commotion and the red cards and I am focusing on what is going on with who’s taking it. They were fighting about who is going to take it. (Saer) Sene wanted to take the ball from (Jerry) Bengtson and he didn’t want to. (I’m) glad. It creates a little pressure on himself, taking the ball away from his teammate and you try to just stall them as much as you can. That’s what I do, I concentrate on him and stay focused and let the guys kind of deal with the referees.

It is huge for us because we wanted to come out and start really well. This is a team we think we can beat and we matched up good against. It wasn’t the prettiest soccer the whole game. But I think getting these three points on this three game road stint is huge for us. To getting a rhythm going, some confidence and we are going to a very hard place now and trying to get a result there.